Idaho gets new commissioner

Idaho Gov. Jim Risch has picked a former Payette County sheriff to the state Fish and Game Commission.

Robert Barowsky, a Democrat, replaces John Watts, a Republican. Idaho law requires that no more than four of the seven commissioners can be from any one political party.

Barowsky was the Payette sheriff for 24 of his 35 years in law enforcement before he retired in 2005. He was also a Fruitland city councilman. He ran unsuccessfully for the Idaho Senate in 2004.

Rich Landers

INSECTS

Mosquitoes bugging Montanans

The mosquito swarms typical in parts of western Montana are back after being absent for a couple of years and people are complaining about insect bites — with complications.

A wet spring and May heat got the mosquito hatch off to a strong and early start.

Researchers looking for mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus report finding nothing unusual in the summer hatch, but people are saying otherwise.

“A lot of people are coming in with what they think is a spider bite, but they didn’t see a spider,” said Dr. George Risi, an infectious disease specialist at St. Patrick Hospital. The bump on human skin is larger than is usual for a mosquito bite, and may be accompanied by fever or feelings of nausea or unease.

Those symptoms are not necessarily the result of insect venom. Doctors here say they are seeing more cases of bacterial infections that may piggyback on insect bites.

Risi said emergency room personnel are watching for a staph infection that resists antibiotics and is responsible for about 45 percent of the infections among walk-in patients at St. Patrick. That is up from 35 percent last year, said Chad Spangler, infection-control coordinator for the hospital.

“We’ve noticed this here and nationwide,” Spangler said. “In all kinds of emergency room settings, this is becoming way too common.”

Staph infections can become life-threatening.

Risi said it is not the insect bite but the subsequent scratching that is the likely culprit. Staph bacteria can lurk under fingernails or on the surface of skin, then enter the body through a puncture or scratch.

The bacteria are vulnerable to soap and water, or rubbing alcohol. Thorough cleaning of skin injuries is effective in preventing bacteria from becoming established in the body, Risi said.

Associated Press

NATIONAL FORESTS

Four states favor roadless areas

New Mexico has become the fourth state — and the first Western state — to petition the Bush administration for roadless area protection under a new rule established last year.

Gov. Bill Richardson is asking the federal government to protect all 1.6 million acres of roadless national forest in the state — and to throw in 100,000 acres of the Valle Vidal region of northern New Mexico as well.

Adding the Valle Vidal to the protected acreage would create “another stumbling block” to proposed drilling on the renowned elk and trout habitat, he said last week. Just before he left office in January 2001, President Clinton issued a rule banning development and road building on almost one-third of the nation’s 192 million acres of national forest land.

The Bush administration repealed the rule, replacing it with a process under which governors can ask the U.S. Forest Service to protect roadless areas. Critics say that puts wild areas at risk for logging, mining and drilling, unless governors act and the Forest Service agrees.

New Mexico, Washington, Oregon and California also are challenging the Bush administration’s repeal of the Clinton rule in court. The lawsuit is pending.

Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina have filed petitions to protect all roadless areas in those states.

Associated Press

HUNTING

Disabled hunters get shot at deer

A northeastern Washington sportsmen’s group is organizing a special training session and deer hunt for hunters in wheelchairs or those who suffer other serious mobility problems.

The Pend Oreille Turkey Talkers Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation will be host for a Wheelin’ Sportsmen event on Aug. 26-27 on private property in the southern end of Pend Oreille County. People with disabilities will be teamed up with able-bodied partners for outdoor activities.

In particular, the group has secured special deer depredation hunt tags that would enable the disabled participants this year to kill a doe on land where deer are causing damage.

For requirements and more information about this Wheelin’ Sportsmen event, call Russ Fletcher at (509) 445-0506.

Rich Landers